Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Drummond on May 24, 2023, 02:36:41 PM
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Aston Villa is pleased to announce we will be providing additional transport to Sunday’s game against Brighton and Hove Albion at Villa Park.
For fans travelling to the stadium from the city centre, a pre-match shuttle bus service will run from Dudley Street (near New Street Station) starting at 2pm.
Buses will depart at 10-minute intervals, with the final service leaving at 4pm. The buses will drop fans at Grosvenor Road near Aston train station, leaving supporters with a five-minute walk to Villa Park.
Post-match, shuttles will run from Grosvenor Road starting at 6pm. Again, buses will depart at 10-minute intervals, with the final service leaving at 8pm.
All services will shuttle fans back to Dudley Street.
Each shuttle (one-way) will be priced at £5. Payment can made either by cash or card, payable to the driver on the bus.
Marshalls will be on hand to ensure passengers access the services safely from both the city centre and Grosvenor Road.
A sign of things to come?
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£5 each way? That seems a bit toppish to me?
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A fiver?
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Fair play for helping, I guess.
But I think if there’s more than two of you , a taxi would be cheaper ?
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Nice to see them trying something new but £10 for a bus trip to Aston and back?
Who’s driving the buses? The squad?
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You can get the 67 from Dale End to the same spot for £2, every 7 minutes before 3pm and every 20 mins after that.
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Yep, a nice idea and let's face it, it has been called for but a fiver each way is a tad steep.
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How much is a taxi from New Street to the ground these days? Surely no more than a tenner? Going to get the train from Oakham to Brum on Sunday and spend the day on the absolute lash.
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I wonder if this will be a test for the upcoming summer events at Villa Park and if that goes well then this could be a regular service for home games next season.
At least the club are trying to do something to ease the queue's for the trains.
A fiver does seem expensive, but to hire bus and drivers cannot be cheap.
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It seems churlish to criticise something we've been campaigning for but the cost is prohibitive. We'll be sharing taxis so it will be much cheaper. The shuttle bus to the cricket is a flat fare of £5 for the day with a discount for kids, that journey is only two miles whereas on Sunday it's nearly four but that is down to the departure point on Dugley Street. That's the wrong side of Town for Villa Park, the service for the CG left from the top end of Corporation St by the Childrens Hospital which halves the journey and would be ideal. That ran very smoothly.
The cynic in me suspects it won't be that busy and they will say "well we tried".
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Bloody hell, its only £4 for a day saver
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Sounds similar to the service laid on in Liverpool city centre to get fans to Anfield and back. Except we paid £4 return last week. £5 each way? If there’s more than one of you, an Uber to the ground would work out cheaper.
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If they can't even get wumpty to bang on some extra 7s & 67s, I find it a bit of a stretch to think they'll convince tfwm to schedule extra trains on matchdays. Ever.
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Too many people comparing private hire coaches against subsidised public buses.
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Too many people comparing private hire coaches against subsidised public buses.
Well they're going to when you can use an identical service at the fraction of the cost, and I don't know what Den Caney charge these days but at a fiver a pop going backwards and forwards a couple of miles those coaches will be shitting money without any help of subsidies.
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Is it definitely a fiver each way
Or could it be a fiver return, which would be about right
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500 new pence for a couple of miles? This may be the straw that finally breaks Wilma's back.
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I'm just pointing out that public services are normally subsidised, hence public, and private travel is not. At those prices, I wonder if the club are even "hiring" them or whether some firm approached them with the idea of doing this and all the club are doing is promoting it.
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Is it definitely a fiver each way
Or could it be a fiver return, which would be about right
The press release Drummond quoted states "Each shuttle (one-way) will be priced at £5".
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Good idea, bad price. Everything they do now seems aimed at pricing the commoners out.
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How much is a taxi from New Street to the ground these days? Surely no more than a tenner? Going to get the train from Oakham to Brum on Sunday and spend the day on the absolute lash.
We used to meet in the jewellery Quarter, food and a lot of beer then get an Uber at 2.30 or so - £7.
On the way back you shafted for £15-20 into town by cab drivers and mini cabs but even then if there are three of you it’s cheaper and tbh even for two of you a few quid more to not have to piss about with buses is worth it.
And even then if you walk far enough from the ground you can get somewhere clear enough to get an Uber back too.
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How much is a taxi from New Street to the ground these days? Surely no more than a tenner? Going to get the train from Oakham to Brum on Sunday and spend the day on the absolute lash.
We used to meet in the jewellery Quarter, food and a lot of beer then get an Uber at 2.30 or so - £7.
On the way back you shafted for £15-20 into town by cab drivers and mini cabs but even then if there are three of you it’s cheaper and tbh even for two of you a few quid more to not have to piss about with buses is worth it.
And even then if you walk far enough from the ground you can get somewhere clear enough to get an Uber back too.
The last few games we've walked back to the Hockley Social from the ground, it's not a bad walk to be fair
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How much is a taxi from New Street to the ground these days? Surely no more than a tenner? Going to get the train from Oakham to Brum on Sunday and spend the day on the absolute lash.
We paid £9 from the OCs to Trinity Road in an Uber last time.
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Do they really think this will be warmly received at a tenner?
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Is it definitely a fiver each way
Or could it be a fiver return, which would be about right
The press release Drummond quoted states "Each shuttle (one-way) will be priced at £5".
Oh right
Maybe they’ll change it
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Do they really think this will be warmly received at a tenner?
Get a return from South west Birmingham for a fiver on the train
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At £5 a trip it will not be busy, a bit like the new holte terrace club @ £20odd a game.
As someone else has said . At least they tried .
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Have to say, I am staggered that someone at the club thought "£5 each way to come here on the bus from 2 miles away, that sounds about right"
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Do they really think this will be warmly received at a tenner?
Some people will think it's wonderful. Some people think the club can do no wrong.
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Then again anything to do with football and you are charged an arm and a leg: replica kit, pints of piss, pie and chips. It's not that surprising.
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Good idea, bad price. Everything they do now seems aimed at pricing the commoners out.
Well, commoners don’t support the Villa so it’s ok.
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How much is a taxi from New Street to the ground these days? Surely no more than a tenner? Going to get the train from Oakham to Brum on Sunday and spend the day on the absolute lash.
We used to meet in the jewellery Quarter, food and a lot of beer then get an Uber at 2.30 or so - £7.
On the way back you shafted for £15-20 into town by cab drivers and mini cabs but even then if there are three of you it’s cheaper and tbh even for two of you a few quid more to not have to piss about with buses is worth it.
And even then if you walk far enough from the ground you can get somewhere clear enough to get an Uber back too.
Sure if the taxi is not booked you are not insured unless it's a black cab where you can get one anytime
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Depending on what time you leave for the ground, the cost of an Uber can shoot up, certainly after 2 I’ve often paid close to a tenner for a trip the same distance from the other side of the ground.
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How much is a taxi from New Street to the ground these days? Surely no more than a tenner? Going to get the train from Oakham to Brum on Sunday and spend the day on the absolute lash.
We used to meet in the jewellery Quarter, food and a lot of beer then get an Uber at 2.30 or so - £7.
On the way back you shafted for £15-20 into town by cab drivers and mini cabs but even then if there are three of you it’s cheaper and tbh even for two of you a few quid more to not have to piss about with buses is worth it.
And even then if you walk far enough from the ground you can get somewhere clear enough to get an Uber back too.
Sure if the taxi is not booked you are not insured unless it's a black cab where you can get one anytime
Have you never had a mini cab where they get you to call and book as you get in to get around that?
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I’d probably do the one on the way back and just get an Uber to the ground/Barton’s beforehand. £5 does seem a bit steep, think it’s about 2 or 3 quid up in that cotton town to get back from OT or the Emptyhad. Not forgetting you’ve got to walk down to by Aston station to get them. Hey ho I’m sure some people will partake.
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Too many people comparing private hire coaches against subsidised public buses.
Except the coaches to other parts of the country run approx £30 return each. Considering the increase in volume available, the maths doesn't work unless either coaches to away games are not done for a profit, or this one is extorting a decent one
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Maybe they don't want to deal with change/coins and have decided to "round it up".
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Too many people comparing private hire coaches against subsidised public buses.
Well they're going to when you can use an identical service at the fraction of the cost, and I don't know what Den Caney charge these days but at a fiver a pop going backwards and forwards a couple of miles those coaches will be shitting money without any help of subsidies.
It’s not identical as it will be direct rather than stopping every couple of hundred yards but still far too expensive. Might have been handy on the strike days though.
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You have to book up away match travel in advance so they know how many are going and what is needed in advance. You also have regular users and I suspect can guarantee four full coaches each away match (guessed at figures). If you direct hired the coach it would normally cost £800 (+extras) for a days hire so a full one at £30 actually costs £1500 so they do make more a profit on them anyway. As they are official through the club normally, I wonder how much used to go back to the club as well.
I honestly don't think these specific transport options will do well personally. The price, the fact most people already have methods to get to Villa Park, and that most fans are probably unaware of them will definitely see them fail.
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I hope it's not being used as a justification for not offering better options when the North Stand is rebuilt - improving public transport options is one of the conditions isn't it? It's like a reverse of the leading questionnaire that has led to the Terrace View, in this case it feels like this is an attempt to say we have consulted the people and they didn't want to know.
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I don't think a shuttle bus service should have a charge
I've used the International Airport in Birmingham and they don't charge like airports shuttle buses elsewhere so it should be on those guidelines for travellers.
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I don't think a shuttle bus service should have a charge
I've used the International Airport in Birmingham and they don't charge like airports shuttle buses elsewhere so it should be on those guidelines for travellers.
Sentence 1. Fair enough, why not?
Sentence 2. What?
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How much do they charge for pie and chips and a pint in the Holte say?
We tend to pay stupid money for shite when in the ground so perhaps stupid money for a bus a what we deserve. Or something.
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I don't think a shuttle bus service should have a charge
I've used the International Airport in Birmingham and they don't charge like airports shuttle buses elsewhere so it should be on those guidelines for travellers.
Lol
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Shuttle bus return starts at 6pm, which seems odd as the match won't finish until at least 6.20, and it takes a few minutes walk to get to.
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They're taking back all the unnecessary additional time from last week. Villa game scheduled to end by 5.
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Shuttle bus return starts at 6pm, which seems odd as the match won't finish until at least 6.20, and it takes a few minutes walk to get to.
The shuttle buses will be "beating the traffic".
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Shuttle bus return starts at 6pm, which seems odd as the match won't finish until at least 6.20, and it takes a few minutes walk to get to.
And I see the last bus leaving town before the match is scheduled for 4pm, which should get people to the ground just about in time for a half time pie and pint, and without them needing to go to the trouble of leaving their seat on the 35th minute.
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How did this go? Was it well taken up?